The occupied Donbass should receive a full "special status", and Ukraine will have quite limited sovereignty over it. This is how Russian political scientist Alexey Chesnakov sees the outcome of the Minsk agreements.
In an interview with one of the Russian media, answering the question of how Russian curator of the Donbass war Vladislav Surkov sees the final of the Minsk process, Chesnakov made it clear that, according to the Kremlin's intentions, the occupied Donbass would never be returned to the legislative environment of Ukraine.
"…Giving Donbass a real, full-fledged special status. Donbass should coexist with Ukraine, approximately like Hong Kong with China – one people, two systems. Only not for fifty years, but for an indefinite period. Or Ukraine can gain the so-called symbolic sovereignty over Donbass. Something like Britain over Canada or Australia, where the English queen is nominally listed as the head of state, but in fact has no power. It will be a good decision", - he voiced the imperial intentions of the Russian authorities.
"If someday Donbass and Ukraine are able to forget blood and grievances – they will draw together. If no – they will break up further. When they finally come to their senses in Ukraine, they could make Donbass a sphere of common interests of Russia and Ukraine. So that Donbass does not become a cause of contention, but a platform for cooperation and joint work. There could be two equal currencies - ruble and hryvnia, the joint ventures would work", - Mr. Chesnakov summed up his vision of the Minsk agreements.
As previously reported, the Minsk agreements have nothing to do with the interpretation proposed by Chesnakov. First of all, they provide for the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine by providing the temporarily occupied territories of Donbass with the status of "areas with a special order of local self-government". Under all the documents signed in Minsk, there are signatures, including of the puppet "DNR/LNR" leaders. Such concepts like the "DNR" or "LNR", as well as the names of any positions of "heads of republics", do not appear in the Minsk documents at all.